Many thanks to the community of Los Alamos for the outpouring of support and encouragement regarding the accident and fire at Quemazon Montessori School on Thursday, March 25.

The response to the accident was awe-inspiring. I am sincerely grateful that no one was injured and that the community rallied for a remarkable outcome. I am especially thankful for our exceptional staff and the flawless evacuations they performed. They handled a very serious situation with such finesse, confidence and good humor, and minimized the trauma to the children immensely. A special thank you to all of the Los Alamos County agencies for an amazing response and exemplary service. Your compassion and professionalism is greatly appreciated. This includes the fire department, police department, EMS, emergency management, Atomic City Transit, and the utilities department. Thank you to our parents for your understanding, support and acknowledging our exceptional staff and what an amazing job they did getting the children to safety. Thanks to my parents and brother who rushed to the scene and communicated with me while I was in transit . . . it was comforting. To all the members of the community who helped (and I missed) thank you and I am filled with gratitude.

Especially moving is the generous offer from the First Baptist Church to use their facility while we rebuild. Pastor Cummings and the parish made the offer immediately and in the spirit that it was a wonderful opportunity for the church to help. This act of kindness is a testament that Los Alamos is an amazing, magnanimous community.

We will resume operations on Monday and move forward. This has been made possible by the quick and efficient response from Dick’s Carpet Care with the remediation and moving process. Plans for re-construction are well underway thanks to Chris Bussell, local contractor. Los Alamos County has been generous with help of all kinds and has established a pathway to quickly get things up and running. Most important, I believe that this will provide a meaningful opportunity to teach our children that although the school was “broken,” it can be fixed and we can move forward with grace and appreciation.